Many visors employed in automobiles are made of a molded, shell-type core covered by a fabric which is colored and textured to match the interior upholstery of the vehicle. Many such visors contain a vanity mirror housed within an aperture in the molded shell. Various methods have been utilized to secure the covering to the aperture.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,411,467 to Cziptschirsch et al discloses a visor body having a recess for holding a mirror. The section of the covering layer overlapping the recess is more expandable than the remainder of the covering layer. To make this section more expandable, it is punched with holes defining a lattice of the material, and various shaped holes are disclosed. In this configuration, the covering does not have a peripheral free end portion located within the aperture and between shell halves.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,685,723 to Canadas discloses a mirror disposed in a detachable support which is capable of being fixed in the cavity of a visor by clipping the support into corresponding openings provided in a middle insert placed on the bottom of the cavity and covered with a sheet of PVC. In this configuration, the metal support insert is placed in the bottom of the cavity and covered with a film of foam, and then with the whole of the shell it is covered with the covering of PVC. Thereafter, the elastic tabs at the support of the mirror can be clipped through the thickness of the plastics covering of the shield.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,922,391 to Dykstra discloses a vanity mirror package which is lockably retained within a visor body having a recess. In this configuration, the vanity mirror package is snap-fitted and held within the recess by means of a pair of facing spaced resilient arms which extend rearwardly from the front core half and include inwardly projecting locking tabs on their ends cooperating with backing tabs to hold the vanity mirror package in place. In such a configuration, the free end portions of the covering around the aperture are not secured by being sandwiched by a cooperation between a retaining means and a fastening means to the inner surface of the shell half.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,494,789 to Flowerday discloses a visor having a snap-in frame which engages its side walls compressing the upholstered fabric against the wall of the visor. In this configuration, the free end portions of the covering extend through apertures in two shell halves and are compressed against the boundary wall of the aperture by means of a spring wire frame.
The present invention incorporates all of the known benefits of an inner plastic shell while improving the fabric attachment mechanism around an aperture.